


When the Coffee Machine Dies

by Dezziebelle



Series: Coffee Machine 'Verse [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: (Past) Minor character death, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Police, Coffee Shop Owner Castiel, Cop Benny, Cop Dean, Don't worry, False Accusations, First Meetings, Happy Ending, Homophobic Language, Hostage Situation, Hurt Dean, M/M, Minor Violence, No Denny, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Life Threatening Wounds, Off-Screen Murder, Past Military Service, Pride, Pride Festival, Private Investigator Cain, Some angst, Stalking, being outed, in this fic - Freeform, internalized homophobia (side character), lots of f-bombs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dezziebelle/pseuds/Dezziebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean’s coffee machine breaks before his shift on duty, but it turns out that it isn’t such a Bad Thing ™.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post:  
> awesomewritingprompts  
> Writing Prompt #695: Do As I Say!  
> Write a story in which a broken coffee maker has a huge impact on the world around it.
> 
>  **Warnings for this chapter:** (I'm not kidding, read these please)  
>  Pre-Destiel relationship, will become Destiel soon  
> Swearing  
> Mentions of (no major characters involved and no/minor description of) *very* minor character death, minor accidents, domestic violence (brief mention, but still a possible trigger), panty theft, and vehicular accidents with fatalities (brief mention, but still a possible trigger). 
> 
> ~~I dont know what the posting schedule will be yet~~ because most of my time is currently being allocated to job searching and my AU Big Bang (so look for that later this year). Update: I'm trying for Thursdays as my posting days. 
> 
> This story is going to be fluffy, but there WILL BE SOME ANGST. Eventually. And it won't be *that* bad. But there will be some angst. This is your warning. Update: Chapters 1 through 3 can be read as a standalone. The real problems start in chapter four.
> 
> Unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own. This is my first time attempting to write a fan fiction in the present tense, so if I've slipped into past tense (which I probably have) please tell me. I'll fix it as soon as I can. Also, if I've mislabeled or missed tags, please tell me; I want to be as transparent as possible without giving everything away. **Tags will be updated as I update the fic so please watch for tag updates.**
> 
> Legal stuff: Supernatural isn't mine & I've never been a cop, take everything with a grain of salt. 
> 
> Onward!

Today’s looking to be even worse than yesterday’s shit storm, Dean thinks.

It had been a barrage of nonstop calls all day from the moment he clocked in and he and Benny had gone out on patrol. They had stopped an attempted mugging, taken the report of some college Greek society girls (all over eighteen, hey!) about a break-in that the thief had stolen panties, and gone to multiple fender bender collisions; all before the shit storm of talking down a crazed narcissist from killing his girlfriend because she tried to leave him and immediately after the coroner had left with the would-be murderer they’d been called out to stop a robbery in progress that had already injuries. It had been a Really Bad Day ™.

That lead to Dean currently in the predicament of glaring his battered, ancient coffee machine into working again.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t. With a dying gurgle the coffee maker regurgitated scalding water and some coffee grinds all over the white stove top. “You can’t do what I ask for one more morning you pile of…?” He trails off with a groan.

If yesterday had been bad, Dean was certain that today would be an apocalypse of epic proportions. With a rough scrub over his freshly shaved face, he turned to look at the clock on his microwave. “Shit.”

Benny would be there in less than five minutes and he still hadn’t—

HONK.

Damn. He’ll just have to skip the coffee today and he’ll crack open a beer or two tonight since he’s off call the next day, the first break in well over a week.

Benny laid on the horn. “Brotha, hurry it up!” he can hear Benny shout through the screen door. Stopping only to grab his gun from the safe he’s out the door and scrambling into the squad car.

“You look like Hell warmed over,” Benny drawls, grinning like the cat that ate the canary or got the cream. “Have a late one last night?”

“No, my coffee machine bit it this morning.” Dean groans, leaning back in the bucket seat. It may not be the most comfortable, it's not his baby after all, but it’s better than the chairs in the station. “Hopefully Sammy gets his ass out of bed in time to clean the stove off.”

“There’s a great coffee house near our beat, we’ll swing by for some of their best roast and a doughnut,” Benny says consolingly, patting Dean’s shoulder, as he pulls from the curbside and shifting gears into the trickle of traffic leaving the small suburb, heading to the artsy center of town.

***

As Benny pulls into a parking spot on the street in front of the coffee house, Dean’s more than overdue for his morning cup and is already fighting a minor headache. He’s in desperate need of the life giving, drug flavored hot water. Long evenings are nothing new, and if it had been a good night -- which it really hadn’t been – he wouldn’t have minded nearly as much. He’d been up on and off all night with vivid nightmares of new and old memories making him exhausted when he finally struggled out of his memory foam bed.

“Want me to run in and get two orders?” Benny asks, and Dean looks up from where he’s zoned out.

“Nah, want to go in with me or want me to get yours?”

“I’ll come in.” They leave the cruiser and cross the sidewalk to a small store front, windows painted “Lazarus Rising Coffee & Café.”

They’re welcomes by chimes over the door. The interior is spacious; odd, he muses, given the small square footage the front presents. It’s lit mostly by morning sun filtering in through the painted glass and hanging mood lighting, giving the neutral browns and rich reds a warm, inviting glow. There are huge wings circling, if he was more eloquent he’d say embracing, the coffee shops’ name above the “ORDER” station. Chairs are all neatly placed, almost too near Dean notes, at small round tables that dot the center of the room bar the path from door to register. There are a few alcoves with art on the wall and seating built into windows. At the far end there’s a door leading to what looks like a patio.

“Welcome, can I help you today officers?” A gravelly, whisky deep voice asks and Dean has to do a double take when he sees _blue._ He’s momentarily stunned silent and by Benny’s smirk he knows Benny has picked up on his sudden silence.

“Two cups of your darkest roast, please,” Benny steps in, “and two bacon maple doughnuts if you have any, too.”

“Alright. That’ll be five fifty officer.”

Dean does some quick mental math as he glances at the chalk board with the pricing. “That’s barely the price of the two coffees,” he finally finds his voice.

Blue Eyes winks cheekily at him. “Keep the local LEOs happy and we’ll be safer, and it’s a discount to say thank you for your continued effort to protect and serve,” he says, taking the money Benny hands him and returns the change before moving to fulfil the order.

Dean smirks before he can stop himself. “Alright,” he chuckles and he and Benny walk over to a table with to go lids and napkins.

When Blue Eyes walks back over with their coffee and a bag, Dean smiles and asks, “what’s your name?”

“Castiel, I own this place.” Blue Eyes – Cas…Castiel – responds. “Here you go, officer… Lafitte and Winchester. Enjoy.”

“Thanks Cas,” Dean grins, turning before he sees Castiel smile.

They return to the squad car and take generous drinks of the coffee before Benny speaks, “so. Cas huh?”

Dean tries to keep the flush from rising to his cheeks and just takes a large bite of the doughnut. When the flavor explodes over his tongue he makes a sound straight out of the last porn he watched, and the flush returns full force when he imagines a certain blue-eyed brunette with sex hair in doctors’ scrubs waiting to give him a _thorough_ examination.

Benny nearly chokes on his coffee at the sound, coughing as he laughs, “brotha, I think you just want that café owner to make that sound.”

Dean rewards him with a raised middle finger and the first call of the day comes in over the radio. “Possible 187 over on…”

***

The next week Dean suggests going back to the coffee shop and it’s _most definitely_ not for a certain blue-eyed man hair that makes it look like he’d just been up all night dancing the horizontal tango.

Nope. Definitely not for him.

“Sounds good to me,” Benny drawls as they head back into their patrol after talking to a distraught wife.

Cas it at the register again when Dean swaggers in, giving the owner a slow grin.

“Same as last week, officer Winchester?” Dean’s honestly impressed that he remembered.

“Yeah.”

“Alright. The doughnuts are fresh out of the oven today. That’ll be five fifty.”

Dean’s stomach gives a growl at the mention of fresh baked goods as he hands over the money, hopefully before Cas notices the flush spreading over his cheeks. The café owner just smirks and moves to fill the order as Dean walks over to fidget at the pick-up counter, flicking the edge of the lids.

When Cas pushes the coffee over in a carry-out carrier Dean gives him a grateful smile as he puts the lids on and takes the bag of doughnuts. It isn’t until he’s in the squad car that he notices writing on the cup. “ _Call me_?” and a number, Dean flushes.

“Better call him brotha,” Benny obviously couldn’t help but rub it in.

“I’m not out to the station,” he reminded his long-time partner and best friend. As if that even had to be stated.

“Then maybe you should see if this Castiel guy is worth coming out for,” he chuckles before another call crackles over the radio. 10-48 with fatalities on I-70…

“Maybe I will,” he replies as Benny flips the lights and sirens and they’re off.


	2. It's All In The Timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean hasn't called Cas yet, but he has plans to make up for the radio silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place almost immediately after the last chapter. I broke this chapter in two (2 and 3) to keep the average word count similar to the first chapter. No beta reader, all errors are my own. This may eventually get a better edit later. 
> 
> Warning: homophobic language/slurs. Tags will reflect this shortly, so please look at the updated tags. 
> 
> Legal stuff: SPN isn’t mine. I’ve never been a cop, nor will I ever be one, but I’m a sucker for the uniform and Cop!Dean is too much to pass up – take all I have to say with a grain of salt for the sake of the story.

_“I didn’t raise no fairy.”_

Dean’s never been secretive about his bisexuality in his adult life, but that was a different story when John was still alive. Dean could imagine his father beginning a tirade about his choice of bedfellows, in particular a blue-eyed brunette with perpetual sex hair. Dean could also imagine the ribbing – both the good and the bad kind – he’d get from his coworkers at the station. Just because he hadn’t dated a man openly while stateside didn’t mean that he’s _never_ dated a man or been interested in doing the horizontal tango with one. Because he has, the majority of his coworkers just don’t know it yet.

If anyone outright asked him at the station about his sexuality he wouldn’t lie, it just never came up or when the moment was there he just figured it wasn’t worth the stress or the right time. When is it ever the right time?

That’s why his stomach was rolling and a tornado of butterflies due to the number of a certain blue eyed man currently tucked away in his wallet (coffee cups are notoriously bad for resiliency after all, so he’d transcribed it before the cup could degrade the ink).

While he’s pretty sure the station for the most part wouldn’t care, there’s definitely homophobes there too. Bobby could go either way, he’d never made a homophobic comment or pro-LGBT comment, but Dean was nearly certain uncle Bobby wouldn’t care which way Dean swung.

That brings Dean to the current moment, leaning on the precipice of a choice. Call or not to call.

“10-…” and work took them back into action. Hours felt like an eternity and infinity at the same time and Dean found himself finishing paperwork as his shift ended before he’d realized it was so late in the evening.

Benny clapped him on the shoulder as he walked by, chuckling as Dean flinched in surprise. “Clocking out time brother, let’s get outta here.”

It wasn’t until they were in the car that Benny pounced on the elephant in the cab. “You gonna call Blue Eyes, brother?”

Dean shot him a withering look from the corner of his eye. “I don’t know.”

“Jus’ ‘cause you and Lisa…”

“Don’t even get started, man,” Dean growled, hunching in on himself.

“Brother—“:

“Just stop. Please,” Dean cut the conversation off, watching as the town turned into his neighborhood and then his home, driveway empty. _Sam must still be in class, then._

“See you tomorrow.”

“Thanks man,” Dean claps Benny’s shoulder before he opens the door and heads into his home.

He sighs as he unlocks the house to silence. Maybe if he had a less demanding job he’d get a dog. Heading directly to the kitchen, eyeing the six-pack with longing but knows he can’t with the extra-long shift the following day, he pulls out all the makings for a cold cut sandwich to tide him over until Sam gets home. He’d never let the overgrown moose in the kitchen for anything more than grabbing a beer or making cereal, but maybe Sam would want pizza instead of a home cooked meal. A man could hope, anyways. He glances once more at the six pack and slams the refrigerator shut, not trusting himself to drink with the disquiet he’s been feeling all day.

With his thoughts firmly picturing blue eyes and dark brunette hair in even more disarray, he strides to his bedroom to change from his uniform before he settles in for the night.

***

Castiel groans, attempting to muffle the sound against his hand. He’s been on his feet all day and he’s finally able to take a moment to himself to rest while Hannah finishes cleaning the front and Alphie finishes the washing in the kitchen. They’ve long since flipped the sign to closed, but Castiel still has to recount the profits and put the figures in the books. Maybe he should hire someone for that job, too.

His phone vibrates in his apron. He fumbles with it once, twice, before looking at Gabriel’s grinning face looking back at him and he can’t help the slump of his shoulders or the sigh. “Yes, Gabriel?” He can’t help the petulant sound in his voice, either.

“Little bro! Has tall, blue, and handsome called yet?” Gabriel sounds way too happy for this to be good news.

“No, Gabriel. What do you want?” Castiel closes the door to his office with a quiet _click_ and settles in behind the desk.

“Kali kicked me out, can I crash at your place? Please, Cassie?”

Castiel sighs, a violent puff of air, as he scrubs at his face. “Sure. Do you still have the spare I gave you?”

“Yeah. Thanks little bro! I’ll be in early to help open tomorrow. See you tonight, unless Dean does instead!” And Gabriel hangs up before Castiel can retort that _Gabriel, that really doesn’t even make sense!_

“Kevin!” He calls as he leaves his office.

“Yeah?” Kevin calls back from the front.

“You done balancing the till?”

“Almost!”

It wasn’t more than a few minutes later that Kevin ambled back into the kitchen, handing over the bag of money. “It was kind of a slow day, only came out at six hundred.”

 With a nod Castiel retreated to his office to recount and put the money in the safe. “Head out, guys. I’ll lock up.”

***

It’s not until a few days later that Dean finally decides to call Cas. He and Benny are camped out in front of Lazarus Rising Coffee, watching people trickle in and out with coffee and sweets. They’ve been called out a few times already to a variety of situations ranging from fender benders to reports of break-ins. So, overall, it’s been a relatively slow day and Dean hopes it remains that way until they’re off in an hour.

Benny is tapping away at the laptop as Dean watches the street, gaze sharp as he watches for violations of the law but is lost in the constant push and pull of calling Cas. “What was the last place called again?”

Dean flipped through his notebook, reading off the notes. “Club Perdition.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. I’m going to get another coffee, want anything?”

“Coffee for me, thanks,” Benny drawls absently, still tapping away at the laptop while he works on reports. He glances up when Dean shuts the cruiser door, and Dean crosses the street in a few bounds.

The chimes over the door welcome him and Dean gives the boy at the counter a grin. “Hey.”

“Hello. Give me a moment, please,” Kevin says as he scurries back into the kitchen.

***

“Kevin, what are you doing back here?” Castiel asks as the boy comes practically crashing into the kitchen. He wipes his flour coated hands off, nodding to Gabriel. The pastry chef just rolls his eyes and continues working on the dough.

“I think you want to take this one, Castiel,” Kevin says, waiting for Castiel to leave with him before he goes to clean tables.

There’s Dean, dressed in blue and his grin turns radiant.

“Hey, Cas.”

“Hello, Officer Winchester.” He can’t help but be a little hurt that the officer hasn’t called him, yet stands there grinning.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called, I uh… I’ve had a really inconvenient schedule for the last few days.” And like that, the hurt is replaced with hope. Maybe Dean would have called if he could?

“It’s… It’s fine. I understand,” Castiel basically trips over his own words. Smooth Cas. Smooth. “Can, I, uh. Can I get you anything?”

“Two coffees, and maybe you’d like to get dinner with me sometime soon?”

After the mental Olympics of realizing just what Dean had said, Castiel can just nod. He eventually finds his voice as Dean hands over the bills for the coffee, “yeah, sure. I’d really like that.”

“When is the best time for me to call you?”

“I’m off at seven Monday to Saturday. I’m off Sunday.”

“I’ll call you tonight, then, and we can make plans.”

“Yeah…” He breaths, pouring the coffee almost mechanically as his mind runs wild. _Officer Winchester wants to get dinner with me?_

“Oh, and Cas?”

“Yes, officer?”

“Call me Dean.”

***

Dean leaves the café with a grin, holding the two coffees as he jogs across the road back to the cruiser. He slides into the cruiser and passes Benny his coffee. He catches the profile of a car passing a stop sign without stopping and nudges Benny. “That black Saturn Vue over there just ran a stop sign.”

And work began once more as Benny flipped the lights and pulled out after the SUV.

…

They were once again parked outside of Cas’ café when Benny finally broke the silence. “So, what did Cas have to say about you not calling him?”

“Who says I haven’t called him?” Benny just level shim with an unimpressed look. “Fine. He has a mean poker face, man! It wasn’t until I apologized that he showed any real emotion.”

“You did ask him out, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.” Even Dean knows he sounds petulant.

“Good. When are you going out?”

Dean blushes and looks away, out towards the café exterior.

“You do have a plan, right?”

“I’m calling him later since we’re off soon to make plans.”

Benny rolls his eyes but returns to watching the citizens bustle around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Note: I may or may not have been inspired by my own vehicle (the Vue). 
> 
> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues.


	3. It's a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas finally have their date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Roadhouse is in Kansas for the sake of the story. No beta, all errors are my own. I'll probably come back later and do a better edit job. 
> 
> I'm attempting to have Thursdays be my posting days, however, if I finish and edit early I'll post early. We'll see how that goes. 
> 
> Legal stuff: SPN isn't mine. Not a cop. Don't take any of this as how being a cop really is. etc. etc.

It turns out “later” is an hour late thanks to a local shooting.

_Ring, ring._

“ _Hello?”_

“Hey, Cas.” Dean smiles, the distortion of the connection making Castiel’s voice even deeper than in person.

“ _Dean.”_

“Want to get that late dinner tonight?” Dean’s heart is racing and he’s sure Cas can hear it.

“ _Of course. When did you have in mind?_ ”

“How about in an hour, there’s this great place I know that makes the best burgers in the state. I mean, if you want burgers… They have other--” Dean’s thankful that Cas feels pity on him while he’s rambling on and cuts in.

“ _Dean, it’s fine. I love burgers._ ”

“Great. I’ll come get you?”

“ _Sure. I’ll text you my address._ ”

“Don’t they teach you not to give strangers your personal information?” Dean can’t help it. He has to tease his date. _His date._ He hasn’t dated since Lisa and that was well over a year ago.

“ _…officer, Winchester. I think I’m safer than most dates_.” Dean realizes he’s tuned out part of the statement but manages to catch the gist of it.

“O-of course. Kansas’ finest.” He stutters. “I’ll uh, see you in an hour. It’s not super classy so you can dress for comfort.”

“ _See you soon, Dean._ ”

Dean’s not even embarrassed that he immediately booked it to his bedroom, slamming the closet open to look at his dwindling number of casual clothes. He’s mulling over the choice between the red flannel or his favorite ACDC shirt and jeans that make his ass look _great_ when Sam sticks his shaggy head in.

“Dean, I’m calling for dinner… Are you getting ready for a date?” Dean jumps a fraction, turning to see his little brother in the doorway.

“Maybe.”

“You’re putting in a lot of effort, she out of your league?”

“No one’s out of my league.” Except the man with the prettiest blue – he’s not a poet and there’s no work that quite encompasses the color – eyes and the best goddamn debauched brunette hair he’s ever seen.

“Go with the ACDC shirt. At least let her know what she’s in for.” Now would be a great time for Dean to admit he’s seeing a guy, but instead…

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t even have a CD player in your car, dude. Enter the twenty-first century.”

“You do remember I have a gun, right Sammy?” Like he’d ever draw on anyone, let alone Sammy.

Sam rolls his eyes as he leans against the wall. “Why _are_ you putting in such an effort?”

Dean groans as he throws the clothes on the bed and turns to face his gargantuan little brother. “Because I actually want to impress them.”

Sam’s face does that annoying thing where it scrunches up in understanding and he nods in sympathy. “So, you’re serious about this person?” Apparently Sammy caught on the pronoun use.

“Maybe? I don’t know, Sammy. I’m tired of one night stands and Cas is… different.”

“Different how?”

“He gave me his number instead of the other way around, for one.” There. He said it. He wasn’t sure if Sam remembered any of the other guys he’d been with but he’s pretty sure the bleeding heart wouldn’t care.

“He?” Sam doesn’t look repulsed and Dean’s shoulders instantly relax.

“Yeah. He. Cas owns the café in midtown, Lazarus Rising Coffee. Benny and I went in one shift when Cas was in the front.”

“How did you manage to land his number? He really is way out of your league.” And there it is, back to normal.

“Must have liked the uniform, bitch.”

“Yeah, yeah jerk. Wear the skinny jeans with that band tee. Taking him to the Roadhouse?”

“Yeah.”

“Ellen and Jo are going to give him the grand inquisition.”

“I’ll keep them away, don’t worry,” he says with a shrug before shooing Sam out so he can change.

 

As promised, an hour later the Impala is purring at the curb of Cas’ home. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but the front lawn wasn’t it. It’s a mishmash of the ridiculous and something that borders on zen-like. He cuts the engine and jogs up to the door, but it opens before he can knock.

“Don’t forget condoms Cassie!” Cas turns a truly _spectacular_ shade of pink as another male’s voice calls to him from outside the entry way. Dean can’t help the laugh that bubbles out, but it’s cut short when he gets a good look at the other man. He’s obviously put a little more effort in his outfit than Dean has, wearing a nice black dress shirt unbuttoned a few buttons tucked into a pair of nice jeans.

“I’d normally ask if you’d like to come in, but my brother is here.” And suddenly it all made sense.

“I get it, you’re the little brother?”

“Unfortunately. Can we go before he humiliates me more?”

“Of course,” Dean manages through his chuckles, waving Cas towards his baby. When Cas sees her, his jaw drops a little and Dean smirks. Instant points in his favor.

“She yours?” Cas breathes, looking over the sleek body almost reverently.

“Yep. I’ve rebuilt her from the ground up a few times.” Fortunately, Cas doesn’t pry. He isn’t sure he wants to air all his dirty laundry on the first date. He remembers his manners and opens the door for Cas with an almost shy smile.

“Thank you,” Cas whispers as he slides into the interior, running his hands over the leather seats.

Dean jogs quickly over to the driver’s side and lets her roar as she comes to life. With a lopsided grin he pulls into the road. “You know a lot about cars?”

“Enough to do the basic maintenance on my Continental.”

Dean glances at him, a little surprised. “You drive a pimp mobile?”

Cas colors a little again but chuckles, “a gift from my brother when I opened the coffee shop.”

“He sounds like…” But Dean can’t find an adequate descriptor.

“Trickster? He really is. You’ve said you worked on this car, so do you know a lot about cars?”

Dean’s not going to call Cas out on the subject change. “Yeah. Learned everything from my dad and pseudo-uncle Bobby.”

“Pseudo-uncle?”

“He’s not blood related, at least we’re pretty sure he’s not, but he took in Sammy and I, my brother, when we needed a place to stay while dad… worked.”

“I see. He taught you a lot?”

“Yeah. I rebuilt a few engines and a couple cars with him over the summers at his place. He’s the police chief now and doesn’t have the time to work on cars anymore so he sold the place to his buddy Rufus. Dude’s a great man, even though he has one permanent scowl.” Cas chuckled at that and Dean shot him a smile.

Conversation flowed, if a little stilted, as they drove to the Roadhouse. It wasn’t until he pulled in that he looked over at Cas again.

“I’m suddenly thinking I should rephrase about safety around you.”

Dean chuckled as he cut the engine, opening the door and running to get Cas’. “It’s great, I promise. Bobby’s not-so-secret crush runs the place and she’s tougher than he is, just don’t let him know I said that.”

“I’ll tell him I heard you say it!” A feminine voice called from just off the entryway and Jo jogged over towards him. “I thought I heard the Impala.”

“Hey Jo, this is Cas…tiel. Castiel, this is Joanna Beth.” He couldn’t help the smile at watching the two sizing each other up before Cas held out his hand and Jo shook it. Jo’s crush wasn’t a secret to anyone. “Can you keep Ellen off of our backs for at least a few hours?”

“Sure. I’m just about ready to return from my break so I’ll get your orders.”

“Thanks Jo,” Dean said, ruffling her hair and pulling Cas along into the Roadhouse. He managed to sneak them into a corner booth without Ellen or Ash noticing, letting Cas settle in before he sat down himself.

“Have any suggestions?” Cas finally spoke up and Dean lit up like a light.

“Oh, do I ever. I usually get Ellen’s cheese and mushroom burger with a side of steak fries. I like most of everything Ellen offers here.”

“You guys ready?” Jo calls as she walks up to their seat, tying her apron back on. “Dean, your usual?”

“Yeah, but a coke to drink instead. I’m on duty tomorrow.”

“Got it.” Jo turns to look at Cas. “And you, Blue Eyes?” Dean just manages not to smile at the nickname everyone’s given him.

“I’ll have the cheese and mushroom burger, please. And a coke,” he passes back the menu, smiling politely before looking back at Dean. Jo nods as she heads back to the bar.

“I promise she will get over her attitude. She’s usually pretty cold to anyone I bring here.”

“It’s fine, Dean. I don’t mind. She really seems to care about you.”

“Yeah. She’s like her mother, tough as nails and family means everything.”

It wasn’t long before Ellen came out with their food and Jo on her heels. “I tried guys, sorry.”

“Dean Winchester, I hope you planned to introduce this young gentleman to me before you left,” Ellen said, placing their plates down and putting her hands on her hips as Jo put the drinks in front of them.

“Of course Ellen,” he tries for placating. “Ellen, this is Castiel; Castiel, this is Ellen.”

“Nice to meet you,” she says and holds her hand out. Cas seems a little unsettled by force of nature that is Ellen Harvelle, but shakes her hand. More points in the guy’s favor. He knows from experience that she has a grip to rival some business executives.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ellen. Dean speaks highly of you.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere boy,” she shoots at Dean and shoos Jo away. “I’ll leave you two to it. You boys better say good bye before you leave,” and she heads back to the kitchen with that order.

Dean turns back to Cas with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about that. I tried to keep them away from making a scene tonight. You’ll get a thorough interview later though.” He realizes what he’s said after he’s said it and flushes a soft pink he hopes the lighting hides.

“She’s a very strong woman. Now I can see where Jo gets it.” Dean has to chuckle at that. It’s true, being raised by Ellen really changes a person for the better.

“So, how did you go about opening a coffee shop?”

“I was planning on working for my father, but ultimately I didn’t want to go into that line of work. Gabriel, one of my older brothers, decided he wanted to be a pastry chef and went to culinary school against our father’s wishes and plans he had for Gabe. They disowned him, but we remained in contact.

“Eventually, I changed majors to business. My father was pissed, he had intended me to go to law school. It wasn’t until I came out as gay that my Christian-for-Business-Reasons father disowned me and Gabriel took me in. We opened the shop about six months ago after years of saving.”

Dean nodded along, listening raptly enough that he – a _great_ officer of the law – didn’t notice the man walking up until he was standing in front of them. “Dean-o!”

They both jumped as they looked up in unison, pulling away when Dean realized how close they had gotten throughout the story. “Ash. Ellen send you over to begin the interrogation?”

“Nope. Wanted to see the ‘man totally out of Dean’s league,’ Jo’s words not mine.” Dean colored again.

“Cas, this is Ash. Ash, Castiel.” Another round of handshakes and a(n uncomfortable) high five for Dean from Ash with a not so subtle, “he’s hot!”

“I am so, so sorry,” Dean groans as Ash wandered back to the bar. “He’s almost always like that.” It isn’t until he looks up that he notices Cas has been laughing at his discomfort.

“It’s alright Dean,” Cas finally manages through the chuckles. “What made you want to be a cop?”

Did he want to tell Cas the entire truth? It wasn’t exactly first date material…

“I lost my mother to arson when I was four. Dad was already in the force, but he became… obsessed. He made detective quickly and went after the killer ruthlessly. I decided to join the force for better reasons, to actually help people like my father originally wanted to do.” He shrugged. “And after coming back from being in the service, I decided it wasn’t a bad idea to do what I’m good at.”

Dean had expected pity, but Cas just reached over to squeeze his hand lightly. “I’m so sorry for your loss, but I’m glad you chose to join the force to do good for people.”

He smiled and returned to his burger after returning a quick squeeze. Conversation lulled as they returned to their moan-worthy burgers.

…

“Thank you for the wonderful evening, Dean,” Castiel said as they stood in his doorway. “Would you like… to do something the next day you have off?”

“I’d love to, Cas,” Dean replied with a grin. They’d moved close in the cool fall chill and Dean closed the remaining distance to press his lips to Cas’. Castiel felt his eyes slip shut as he returned the kiss, soft smile curling his lips as they pulled away. Wanting more affection than a good night kiss, Castiel slipped his arms around Dean, pulling him close.

“See you soon,” he felt, more than heard, Dean's rumbling whisper as he pressed a soft kiss to his hair.

“I’m looking forward to it.” Castiel goes into his home to a hopefully sleeping Gabriel when he'd rather be going home with Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues.


	4. Your Reputation Proceeds You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphie tells Castiel about Dean's reputation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! I’ve had one hell of a week (and a half) between a date and things that just keep popping up in real life. I'm shooting for getting another chapter of When The Coffee Machine Breaks out sometime this weekend.
> 
> Tags are updated for this chapter. If you don’t want to read angst, the first three chapters can be read as a standalone because we’re coming up on some turbulence. I promise a happy ending for our boys. I’ve finished plotting this entirely out; we’re looking at probably five (or so, we’ll see) more chapters.
> 
> Again, SPN isn't mine. Take cop stuff with a grain of salt, I have no idea how this works outside of procedural cop shows. Still no beta reader, all oopsies are my own.

Dean sighed, running his hand over his chin and grimacing at the bite of stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave, looking at the stovetop with the broken coffee maker that had started everything. The piece of crap wouldn’t even bring the water to a boil anymore before it spat all over whatever it was sitting on and dust was beginning to gather. He should just throw it out. He really should…

“Dean?” Dean turned to look at his moose of a brother relaxing against the doorway he was almost as tall as. “Is it still not working?”

“Nope.”

“When are you planning on getting a new one? I don’t mind the university’s café, but this is getting ridiculous.”

Which is a really damn good question he’s been avoiding since the first date he had with Cas. Already four in and countless stops at Cas’ coffee shop and he’s sure he’s falling hard. “I’ll get a new one when I’m off today.”

“Or you could just let me get it.”

Dean looked over at him, mimicking Sam’s bitchface #12. “You’d get one of those hipster machines.”

“They make the perfect size cup of coffee without measuring and waiting forever, Dean!” Sam’s original bitchface #12 is full force now. “Not all of us are dating a barista.”

“He owns the place.”

Sam rolls his eyes as he throws his hands up. “Whatever, Dean. Not the point.”

“Fine, get your hipster coffee maker Samquatch,” Dean shrugs, pulling the refrigerator door open to pull out a gallon of cold brewed coffee. He’d kill for some of Cas’ coffee, but he’s not going to survive the bullpen today without a pick-me-up. “Benny’ll be here any minute now.”

“Can I take the Impala then?”

Dean looks over at his little brother, incredulous. “Why?”

“Jess is busy tonight so I can’t catch a ride with her and my car is still in the shop.”

“Whatever. Not a scratch on her,” Dean orders, scooping the keys from the holder and tossing them at his gargantuan little brother.

“Thanks Dean. What time are you off tonight?” Dean’s pretty sure he hears the cruiser pull up.

“I’ll be home by seven unless something comes up,” he replies, pulling on his belt and making sure his uniform is pristine.

“Alright. I should be home before you then. I have an exam this afternoon.”

“Good luck Sammy,” Dean calls just before he slams the door shut and he’s running to Benny before the man can wake the neighborhood with the horn or siren.

***

The chimes above the door tinkle quietly as the door opens and closes, a sudden chill breeze floating in almost immediately after.

“Hey Alfie,” Castiel glances up and calls to his younger brother, putting baked goods in the display case.

“Hey Cas. Has Gabriel finished with the baking yet?” Alphie wanders to the front counter, eyes skimming over the baked goods already out.

“Yeah. You want anything today?”

“I was hoping for some doughnuts to put at the nurse’s station.”

“I’ll have Gabriel put it together,” Castiel just nods towards the kitchen as he finishes restocking. “Go ask him for whatever you want.” His phone vibrates and snatches it from his apron so quickly he fumbles with it.

“That from loverboy?” Gabriel leans on the doorframe, holding a tray of cooled cookies.

“You’re seeing someone Cas?” Alphie asks, poking his head out from the kitchen.

“Cassie’s got himself a boy in blue.”

“Thank you, Gabriel. Yes, Alphie, I am seeing someone. And the text was from Michael, not Dean.”

The name seems to make Alphie perk up. “Dean?”

“Winchester.”

Castiel narrowed his eyes as Alphie glances out the storefront window to the dreary day outside. “If that’s who I think it is Cas, you need to be careful.”

“Why?” Castiel is genuinely surprised, he’d never expected Alphie to have crossed paths with Dean.

“The other nurses on staff talk about how much of a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ type he is. He’s apparently always flirting with the nurses when he has to spend any length of time at the hospital.”

Castiel nibbles on his bottom lip lightly, mind far off. Would Dean have spent so much time with him if a one-night stand was the only thing the officer was looking for? There were plenty of single men and women out there looking for a casual hookup, why would Dean be making an effort to go on dates with him?

“Thanks Alphie,” he says as he’s jolted by the tinkling of the chimes as the door opens. “I don’t think that’s what Dean’s after.”

But now the thought is embedded in his head. Is Dean flirting with people when Castiel isn’t around? Is he even allowed to make a stipulation about not seeing others yet? They’d never said they’re exclusive and people date around.

“Welcome to Lazarus Rising Coffee. What can I get you today?”

***

Dean groaned as he leaned back in the world worst desk chair. He kept meaning to get a new one since Bobby wouldn’t bother but kept putting it off. Now his back was making him regret it.

“Ready to start our patrol?” Benny’s drawl pulls him from the thought of sore muscles.

“More than. We have time to stop by Cas’ café for some coffee and a slice of Gabe’s pie?” His stomach takes the opportunity to growl loudly enough Benny can’t fight a sharp chuckle.

“How you’re not dead yet from the crap you eat yet is a universal mystery.”

Dean just rolls his eyes at the job and stretches as they head out to the cruiser. Just as they settle in and the car is happily idling the radio crackles and the voice of the emergency dispatcher comes through. “Looks like we’ll have to put off that coffee.”

***

Castiel usually sees Dean by now. But maybe he’s on a call? He’s realized he’d spaced out when Gabriel coughs indelicately from the doorway and he hits his head on the bottom of the industrial espresso maker, nearly dropping the plates he was picking up.

“Seriously, little bro. What’s up your ass today?”

“Go back into the kitchen, Gabriel,” Castiel’s voice has gone sharp, shoulders tense.

“Why have you been spacing out since Alphie came in? I’m not going to take no answer as an answer.” He sidles up to Castiel, taking the pile of plates and cups he’d be ready to take back to the kitchen.

“Alphie… said something about Dean being a love ‘em and leave ‘em type and I’ve been thinking about if it’s too early to talk about being exclusive and I’m just sounding like an idiot now,” he finally trails off, pink tinging his cheeks.

“I think you need to talk to your boy about that.”

“Yeah. He’s usually in by now, though.”

“Probably on a call, Cas.” Gabriel shrugs as he takes the plates back to the dishwasher and leaves Castiel to brood in relative peace.

***

Dean nods to Benny as they cross the grass covered lawn of a cookie cutter suburban home, circling into the backyard from opposite ends with guns at the ready.  They’d gotten a call of what a neighbor thought was a burglar attempting to crack the lock of his vacationing neighbors.

Sure enough, the back door was open a fraction. With a whispered count of three Benny opens the door and hustles in with Dean on his heels, both sweeping through the rooms as Dean calls “Lawrence PD, come out with your hands up!”

They don’t have to go far. The man is standing over a lump, covered by what looks like an area rug, hands up and slowly turning. “It wasn’t me! I just wanted to pawn anything valuable they might have.”

“What’d’ya mean it wasn’t you?” Benny motions for the man to come closer and he comes without resisting, hands already moving to be cuffed.

“I didn’t touch it, but I think… I think that’s… a… a…”

“Snap out of it! A what?” Dean snaps.

“A body!”

The scent is just covered by whatever air freshener thing people use now-a-days, but Dean can smell the putrid scent better now that they’re closer. “Better call this in.”

“I’ll take Die Hard here while you wait for backup brotha,” Benny calls over to Dean as he’s maneuvering the would-be robber out of the living room.

“This is Officer Winchester; we have a 10-54…”

…

The weather just gets shittier and shittier as the day progresses into nightfall, matching Dean’s ever worsening mood. He hadn’t been able to make it in to see Cas today and get a good cup of coffee – the stations tasted like tar – and this call has gone on for seemingly eternity. The coroner had already been by and he was coming up on the end of his shift.

“Detective,” Dean greets as Hendrikson strides over to him. “My turn already?”

He just gets a sigh for his trouble. “What happened when you entered the premises?”

“Lafitte and I were called out for a possible burglary in process. We entered the back yard by jumping the fence or opening the fence gate on either side of the house, meeting at the back door. We noticed it was open a fraction so we opened and proceeded to call out our presence. The burglar was standing in front of the body and had his hands raised when we entered the room, admitting to attempting to steal valuables but ran across the deceased instead.” That got even _more_ interesting the eightieth time he’d told that story.

“Thank you, Dean. You’re free to leave now. Are you still coming this weekend for beer and karaoke?”

“Maybe? I probably will have plans. I’ll tell you if I do and don’t forget to remind Benny.” Dean shrugged, he’d probably be meeting with Cas again anyways for another date. Maybe a nice dinner and a movie this time. He’s realized he’d spaced out when Hendrikson chuckles and claps him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I bet you have plans. Meet someone?”

“Something like that. I’ll see you later,” he waves and jogs to catch a ride with another officer heading back to the station. He’s on the phone as soon as he’s buckled into the seat.

“ _Hello, Dean.”_

“Hey. I had a call run over. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come in today. Want to get dinner and a movie over the weekend?” Dean ignores the way Cole looks at him.

“ _Yeah, I’d like that. Can we meet tonight too?_ ”

“Sure? What’s up?”

“ _Nothing serious, I assure you. I’d like to see you and talk about some things._ ” Cas’ voice, while dirty fantasy worthy, isn’t giving away anything.

“Alright. I’ll swing by the café then.”

“ _See you soon, Dean_.” And Cas hangs up after Dean mumbles a response that sounds vaguely like an affirmative.

“Trouble in paradise?” Cole asks, not turning his gaze from the darkening streets.

“Nah.” He and Cole never were the touchy, friendly type that shared any personal details beyond a quick, _how’re you_? He doubts Cole even cares beyond fodder to harass him with.

They’re silent the rest of the way to the station.

***

Castiel glances at the clock on his phone. Dean would be there any moment and the butterflies in his stomach were quickly becoming a swarm of something far less pleasant. Was he moving too quickly? He’d given his number to Dean on a whim of _better not let this be a missed connection_ and called it at that, good or bad response.

There’s a rapping at the door and Castiel scrambles to unlock it, smiling as he sees Dean. Dean’s returning smile, crinkling at his eyes, makes him absolutely sure that _no, this is the right time._

“Come in, it’s freezing out,” he grasps Dean’s hand, gently tugging the man in and out of the cold. “I sent everyone home already.”

“What’d’you wanna talk about?” Dean asked, smirking as they settled into the window seat and Castiel handed him a cup of tea.

“My younger brother Alphie works at the hospital and has seen you there a few times. He, uh, voiced his concern about your…”

“Flirting?” Dean asks, cutting to the heart of the issue.

“Yeah. I… Are we exclusive?”

“Do you want us to be?”

“Do you?”

They look at each other, and Castiel feels like he’s losing himself to the green of Dean’s eyes.

“I’d like to.”

“Me too.”

“Good,” and they’re kissing, dim lighting and the light snowfall muffling the already quiet sound of traffic, curled up together in the warmth of his coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next major posting will be my Destiel AU Big Bang, so look out for that in early January.  
> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3  
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues


	5. Pride's Supposed to be a Statement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean’s part of the parade and festival security at their local Pride this year, but this pride has something in store for Dean and Cas that they’re not expecting and someone takes an important decision for Dean out of his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning: internalized homophobia (not Dean or Cas), homophobic language, and a brief non-con kiss.**  
>  I'm not kidding. Read the tags, I've updated them again. 
> 
> The pride festival is modeled after the prides I've been to, but I live in a liberal area so it's nothing like the prides that get picketed or attacked. Hopefully this isn't too much suspension of disbelief. 
> 
> SPN still isn't mine. Still not a cop, only seen crime dramas. No beta, all mistakes are my own.

Dean wishes he could revel in the atmosphere of the pride festival, draped in a bisexual flag like a cape and dance to the live musicians or lay in the June sun with Cas. Instead, like all years before since he'd returned and joined the force, he was working event security. It’s a scorching sunny late June day in the park and he’s forced to patrol in his full uniform.

"Hello, Dean." The voice like whiskey over gravel pulls him from his thoughts and he turns his grin, a full one-thousand-watt smile, on his boyfriend. His mouth goes dry at the sight of a very… exposed… Cas. There was a vibrant rainbow across his chest like a Miss America Gay pageant sash from shoulder to sharp hipbone, a pair of skin-tight shorts concealing if the rainbow goes any further before reappearing down his leg to the ankle.

"Hey Cas. Having fun?"

"I'd have plenty more fun if you were able to enjoy it too." Even Cas sounds like he's lamenting Dean being put on the event detail.

"Yeah, well, maybe next year Cas," he sweeps his gaze for any signs of trouble or his fellow officers. Six months together and he still hasn't found the courage to come out to his co-workers. Sure, Cas doesn't mind it but he has noticed the strain when Cas can't reach over in public and hold his hand or rest a chaste kiss to his lips.

Well, being in Kansas might not be such a fine idea for that anyways.

"What are you and Charlie up to next?" They had met the vivacious redhead through Gabriel of all people and she’d gotten them to take part of her live-action roleplay game that she was in with her girlfriend, Gilda.

"Charlie wants to see the drag show. We'll probably stay to see that before we grab lunch."

"I'll be getting a break here in about half an hour. How about we all get food together?"

Cas smiles one of his genuinely happy gummy grins and winks subtlety. "Absolutely Dean. I'll go find Charlie and we will meet you by the food trucks when you're free."

And damn it, Dean wants to kiss him but he can't. He can't because it'd be unprofessional, he can't because he doesn't have the courage to reveal his sexuality, he can't because even in a safe place like the pride festival he knew there were bound to be those who'd disparage it.

Dean runs a hand lightly over Cas' before turning and walking through the crowds to the fence where he'd have a better vantage point to patrol from.

"I can't believe chief Singer out me on this detail."

And the last major thorn in Dean's side of the day. Cole Treten. "And why is that, Cole?" He asks, bored, not really listening to the man.

"Because I don't want to have to be around a bunch of fags!" He grouses and Dean glances sharply at him.

"Ever stop to think that's why Bobby put you on this assignment? Today's about love."

"What, are you one of those fruitcakes that take it up the ass? How about the dude you were talking to, he taking it?" Guy was fixated on asses a little too much for a self-proclaimed straight man, but Dean bit his tongue. Dean has to restrain himself from punching Cole out but doesn't say anything as his gaze travels over the gathered people celebrating. Maybe it would mean more and would shut up the asswipes like Treten if pride still was more of a political statement and less of a capitalist run festival.

"Just do your goddamn job, Cole," he finally replies, stepping away to patrol. Hopefully Cole will desert or something when his break starts. Preferably in such a way that he never returns to Lawrence.

He's not surprised, with his luck, when half an hour later he is relieved at the same time as Cole. His phone buzzes once, then twice, three times before he realizes he's getting a phone call.

"Are you on break yet?" Charlie's eternally peppy voice rings through the blue tooth in his ear.

"Just got relieved. Where're you?"

"Food trucks. Cas wants to know what you want."

"Whatever he is having is fine. And water. Thanks Charlie, I'll be there in a few."

He hangs up as he's walking to the large gates to the main thoroughfare street in the park. Unknown to him, Cole isn't far behind.

Dean doesn't have too difficult of a time finding Cas and the plates of food he and Charlie are carrying. "Thanks guys. There's a picnic area that may have some space available or we can find a shaded area off to the side."

"Getting out of the sun sounds like a plan," Charlie agrees and motions for them to follow her back towards where Dean had been posted before, laying out her massive rainbow flag for them to sit on. "Have you been drinking water Dean?"

"Some." He admits. He could have had more but so far he'd been moving around so much he hadn't really stopped to replenish his water bottle at the water stations.

Cas just levels him with a truly unimpressed glare and hands over an extra bottle of water he'd been carrying. "You need to drink enough water, Dean. It can't be cool in your full uniform and once you're sweating you've already lost too much water."

"Yes, ma," he teases softly and gives Cas his best 'I'm innocent, what can you do with me?' look. Cas just rolls his eyes.

Before Dean can dig into the… some sort of vegan burger, he thinks, there’s an all-too-familiar voice calling out, “Dean!”

He flinches and slowly stands, gaze training on Aaron Bass as the other man approaches. And steps well into Dean’s personal space. And kisses him, full on the lips. Charlie squeaks in surprise and Dean’s caught off guard so it takes him more than a few seconds to react and push him away.

“Whoa, man, that’s…” He can see Cas out of his peripheral vision standing, arms crossed.

“I’m sorry, I just haven’t seen you since,” he trails off, tapping his chin lightly, “Pennsylvania wasn’t it?”

“Yes. And we broke up then if you remember. This is my boyfriend, Castiel. Cas, this is my ex, Aaron,” he wraps an arm around Cas’ shoulder, frowning.

Castiel is glaring holes into the poor kid but he’s never without his manners. So he doesn’t say anything at all.

“Oh, I… um. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize… I didn’t see… I should go,” and Aaron leaves in a hurry, but they’ve already caught the attention of the crowd. He could’ve sworn he saw Cole in the mass of bodies but as the dancing continues he loses sight of the other officer and shrugs it off as paranoia.

“Dean,” Cas starts but Dean shakes his head.

“Can we talk about this after Pride? I only have a half hour for lunch and that’s not enough time to explain everything.” Castiel just nods and Dean returns to where Charlie is still looking a little shell shocked.

“I… Uh… Holy shit.”

“Holy shit is right.”

…

He’s not even a minute back into being on the job when Cole approaches and Dean inwardly groans. He _knew_ he saw the little sack of shit; Cole’s not even officially on duty anymore and he’s approaching Dean quickly.

“So, did that mousy little pervert assault you? Why didn’t you cuff him?”

One, Aaron would have loved it, two, “that’s none of your business, Cole.”

“Then you had your arm around that guy from earlier. Looked pretty friendly, Dean-o.”

Dean sighs and turns away from Cole, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, Cole? If you hate it here so much go the fuck away.”

“Oh, no way. Not after that juicy tidbit. So, whose taking it?”

“Seriously, Cole, you talk about anal sex more than some gay guys I know. You certain you’re straight?” He asks, leveling a glare at him. “Sounds like you have some internalized homophobia to deal with before you can find yourself a boyfriend.”

Cole splutters out an indignant, “I’m no fag!” as he backtracks as quickly as he is able towards the entrance where his cruiser is parked.

Dean just really wants Cas.

…

Castiel’s been waiting for the last twenty minutes in the shade of an oak for Dean’s shift to officially end. He’s not entirely surprised when the man from earlier – Aaron? – shows up instead.

“Hey man, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there and it just kind of happened.”

Castiel sighs, head tilting back to _thunk_ lightly against the trunk. “I’m not angry anymore. Well, not at Dean.”

“He didn’t know I’m in town. We had a thing a while back and I’m in town for a meeting. I saw him and thought, _what the Hell_ , and came over.” Aaron leans back against the tree next to him.

“And sexually assaulted him?”

“More like… sexually harassed him, but yes. Not one of my finer ideas I’ve ever had. I had no idea he’s seeing you, I wouldn’t have done it if I saw you.”

“Why did you two break up?” Castiel can’t help but pry.

“You’ll have to ask him for that tale, Castiel. Looks like Dean’s on his way over, have a good evening.” He watches Aaron amble off, shoulders hunched and gaze down.

“He bugging you? I can still arrest him you know,” Dean asks, leaning over and pressing a firm kiss to Cas’ mouth. Castiel doesn’t move for a moment, barely breathes, as he looks up at his boyfriend showing an open display of affection in public.

“Dean?”

“Cole saw the whole thing go down. By morning the entire station will know. Guess he just made me do this sooner rather than later.” Castiel shoves Dean back against the tree, pressing his lips to Dean’s again, melting into their embrace.

After a (lot longer than a) few minutes, Dean pulls away with a grin. “What was that for, Cas?”

“I know it’s hard to come out, even more-so when you’re forced to,” he whispers, pressing another soft kiss to Dean’s mouth. Dean just shrugs in the embrace, almost displacing Castiel’s arms around the other man’s neck, but Cas just tightens his grip and holds close to Dean, careful of the body paint that’s been melting in the sun and sweat. “I’m here for you.”

“Sap,” Dean teases and Castiel willingly lets himself be pulled along to the exit. They have a lot to discuss but he’s basking in the sun and Dean’s affection right now so he lets the worry evaporate for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues.


	6. A Bigger Problem Arises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas & Dean talk about Aaron. Soon Dean's facing a new, bigger problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I’ve missed any tags, I’m sorry and please tell me. I’m trying not to give away the story but also not miss anything potentially triggering. 
> 
> Sorry this one is a little late, I should probably just promise an update roughly every week and call it at that, rather than every Thursday with my track record. 
> 
> No beta, only a basic edit was done, so all mistakes (and I’m sure there’s a few) are my own. I’ll probably come back later and give it a better edit. SPN still isn’t mine and I’m not a cop, all I know in terms of legal stuff and investigations comes from cop procedural shows. Take with a (whole lot more than) a grain of salt.

Castiel has logically known that Dean had partners (of more than one gender) in the past, but it was still a shock seeing one so brazenly throw himself at _his_ boyfriend. His. Not Aarons, not anymore. Castiel isn’t entirely sure where this jealous streak is coming from and he’s not entirely certain if it’s a good or a bad thing. They’re at Dean’s while Sam is supposedly over at Jess’.

“What happened between you and Aaron?” Castiel finally asks while they’re putting away the extra bottles of water and snacks from the pride festival.

Dean doesn’t speak immediately. “It was a while ago, Cas,” he begins, almost hesitant. “I had just come home from being stationed overseas. I was flown into Pennsylvania and immediately sent to my next station once I was stateside. I’d had boyfriends in Europe but back in America I wasn’t really looking for anyone. Aaron and I weren’t even really dating, just seeing each other once in a while with my schedule. Every once in a while I’d go to a gay bar and he’d be there. We ended up being convenient for each other.”

“So, fuck buddies?” Castiel watched Dean begin pacing back and forth across the kitchen.

“Yeah, pretty much. But he wanted more eventually and I didn’t want to risk being outed on base. This was before the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I was already risking a lot just going to the gay bar, if one of my more homophobic superiors found out I would’ve been sidelined at best. I was already in some shit for beating up some asswipe harassing some poor girl that thought someone saying ‘no’ didn’t apply to him.

“So, we broke everything off and I stopped going to that bar until I finished out putting in my time and retired from the corps. I ended up coming home to join Dad on the force here, as you know, Aaron just another part of my past.

“I had no idea he was even in town. If I had known, I wouldn’t have been caught off-guard like that. I wouldn’t have even allowed him an opportunity.” Dean sighed, shoulders slumping as he rested against the countertop. 

“I’m not angry, Dean. Not at you. Not even really all that angry at Aaron anymore,” he murmured, slipping his arms around the other man’s waist and pulling in close, pressing into his heat. The tension dissipated.

“I dunno how you do it, Cas,” Dean sighed, his breath ghosting into Castiel’s hair.

“Do what?” He asked, a little confused, as he pulled back to look up at Dean.

“Forgive so easily. I’d be a lot less forgiving if the situation was reversed, honestly.”

“It’s easier to forgive than to hold onto the anger, Dean,” he whispered before reaching up and pressing his lips to Dean’s stubble.

“So,” Dean rumbled, arms tightening, “Sammy’ll be gone all night…”

Cas smirked up at him with a wicked gleam to his rapidly dilating blue eyes. “All you have to do is lead the way, babe.”

***

Dean was right. The next day as soon as he walked into the bullpen for his shift he’s getting pointed stares. He’s suddenly incredibly glad that he’d driven to work today and didn’t carpool with Benny.

“Would someone like to address the hulking elephant in the room?” He asked, feigning casual, as he leans back against his desk, chest out and chin up as his gaze sweeps over the room. Tired of the game of _will he or won’t he?_ they’re playing already. Apparently he will. A few of the others flush lightly under the scrutiny.

“Son,” Bobby’s gruff voice comes from the direction of his office directly behind Dean. Dean suddenly feels like when he’d broken some rule and Bobby would just have to give him this _look_ for Dean to wilt. He bites on a reflexive apology and turns to face his surrogate father.

“Cole came in ranting and raving from the festival yesterday,” the older man begins, arms folded as he seemingly casually leans against the doorframe. “It’s none’a our business but why haven’t you said anything about this boy of yours?”

Some of the anxiety that had been building lifted away and he visibly sagged in relief. “I know the majority of ya’ll would be cool with it, but there’s Cole and probably a few more where he comes from. Plus, professionalism, y’know?” He walked around to his chair and collapsed into it with a huff of laughter. “I just want to protect him from the job. You can’t hold that against me.”

“And telling us would be worse off than not having a cities’ worth of police protection?” Benny pipes up, uncowed by the glare Dean levels at him, even though he’d been there for the entire beginning of the relationship and had pushed Dean into calling Cas that first time. But, of course Benny had to make a really, really good point. He should have expected it; Benny usually makes the right call. Not that Dean would ever admit to it.

“Of course not!” He knew he was beat. It had been a (mostly) unfounded fear. Bobby just shook his head and muttered something that was probably ‘ _idjit’_ as he walked back into his office. “I just…”

“It’s alright, brotha, we understand. Right?” Benny asked to the other officers. Only a few had turned away, feigning working on paperwork. The rest just nodded.

“Back to work, the lot of you! This circus is over!” Bobby yelled from his office and they all dutifully took their seats. Dean could still feel gazes upon him but he buried himself in paperwork that needed to be finished, hoping that it would absorb him until he could escape. Or maybe it would actually absorb him and he’d never have to deal with these people again. He mentally shrugged and opened the file for the first report he had to make about an attempted robbery gone wrong.

***

The next few weeks went on like usual, yet with a new sense of normal that he hadn’t felt in years. Being well and truly _out_ let him drop some of the walls, some of the inhibitions that he’d previously struggling on a daily basis to keep up. Whenever they’d stop in at Cas’ shop or he was out with Cas he would allow some (tentatively) public displays of affection. He held Cas’ hand when they were out on a walk or in the store, wrapped an arm around his boyfriend when they were at the bar, gave a tiny peck on the lips when he’d have to step away from Castiel for more than a few minutes.

He felt liberated in a way they he hadn’t in a long time.

It was dark out already, summer turning into Fall making the October air chilly as the sun set. He and Benny had just started the first hour of their overnight shift, ready to patrol when the radio came to life.

“Nearest available unit, violent suspect in custody resisting arrest and private security requesting pickup.” Dean grabbed the radio and responded, opening the GPS as Benny hit the lights and they took off.

“Isn’t that Cain’s office?” Dean asked, Benny just shrugged. “Dunno brotha.”

Even as the closest unit to the scene it took them a quarter of an hour to pull up to a group of men, one zip tied and struggling while the two aside him each held an arm. “Officers.”

“What’s going on here?” They shut the doors of the cruiser in almost unison as they walked over to the group.

“We found this man when the alarms triggered that someone hadn’t turned off the security code. He was at the PI’s desk, rifling through a file and trying to crack into the computer.” The beefier of the two informed them, tightening his grip on the man currently struggling to get free of their bruising grip.

“Do you know what he was looking for?” Benny asked. Dean stepped away and radioed in for further instructions and backup if necessary.

“Nope. Here’s the file he was looking through.” Benny’s shocked gasp drew Dean’s attention and his eyebrows knit together.

“What, man?” He finally asked, walking back over to his partner.

“Brotha… This man was looking up information on you. This PI’s been tailing you.”

Dean’s blood ran cold as he looked at the manila folder with the tab labeled WINCHESTER, really seeing it now. “Why?”

“Doesn’t say. Doesn’t give the client either.”

“I doubt it would.” Dean agreed, turning to face the security guys. “We’ll take him off your hands. Please stay until backup can arrive to take your statements. And if you can, call in the PI so the detective can get information on this case.” They just nodded, pushing the scrawny man towards Dean and Benny. “If you run, I have to give chase. I have to give chase, you’re getting slammed and pinned to the fucking ground. I almost hope you do.”

Benny obviously just managed not to roll his eyes as he forcefully turned the suspect around, snapping cuffs onto the man’s wrists as he read the man his Miranda rights before shoving the would-be criminal into the back of the patrol car. Dean nodded to the security guys as the wail of sirens drew closer and he and Benny left to transport the suspect.

***

“You have a PI investigating you?” Sammy sounded pissed. The overgrown puppy was actually kind of terrifying when he was pissed, Dean mused, putting away his gun in the safe.

“Yep. And now I’m not allowed to work this case. And we get the added benefit of our own personal security a la my fellow officers. All I know is the PI either isn’t giving up his client’s confidentiality or he really doesn’t know his real client’s identity, I’m kind of inclined to believe the guy.”

Sam sighed an indignant huff and Dean smirked, collapsing into the couch with a long groan of exhaustion. The floor to ceiling bookshelves took too much energy to walk to, so he just flipped on the large flat screen TV to the food network and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table as Sam cried an even more incensed ‘ _Dean_ ’.

“Are you going to tell Cas? They’ve probably been watching him too.”

“Already told him and he’s on his way over. You want to see if Jess will stay here for at least during the investigation? If I’m being tailed I’m certain you’ve at least been looked into.”

“I’ll go call her,” Sam sulked off to his room with one final glare for good measure. Dean just shrugged and pulled on the tee he’d brought out with him as some baking competition came on air.

Castiel arrived twenty minutes later as the contestants were baking some sort of seafood dish with hot sauce and sugar as their challenge ingredients. Dean thought that sounded disgusting.

“Hey Cas,” he called as the front door opened and Cas walked over to him.

“Hello Dean.” His boyfriend replied as the other man slid in beside Dean, wrapping himself into Dean’s warmth. Dean’s arm wrapped around Cas’ shoulder and he pressed a soft kiss to his mouth, trying to remove the concern from Cas’ expression.

“Hey Cas,” Sam said, returning into the living room. “Jess said she’ll stay. Do I have to worry about cops following me anywhere?”

“Probably not?” Dean said, a little unsure himself. They had no idea just how big this issue was or would potentially become, so he’d bet that Sam wouldn’t get individual protection yet. “We had that one stalker incident a while back, but the new procedures don’t really detail family members. You’re probably fine to go to class without one of the officers following.”

“You… Don’t think it’ll… turn out like that, right?” Sam suddenly sounded very, very small as he stood in front of the light from the kitchen, one hand resting on the wall and the other holding his phone.

“No, Sammy, it won’t.” He couldn’t promise anything, but he had to hope that this was nothing too serious. His gut wasn’t so sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to those of you who have read my fic and left comments and kudos. I never expected to gain a following and the fact that ya’ll like it enough to subscribe means a lot to me. Thank you. 
> 
> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues.


	7. What's a Little Illegal Hacking Between Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie gets the information Dean wants to know that he can't get through his job. Soon there's yet another few problems brewing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re looking at nearing the end of this short fic (2ish more chapters to resolve everything and an epilogue). Thank you to everyone that has read what I originally intended to only be two or three chapters of fluff. 
> 
> [READ THESE] New tags: False accusations; Hostage Situation; Hurt Dean; Non-Life Threatening Wounds. 
> 
> Not a cop or a PI. This PI probably has stepped well outside the boundary of legal. This chapter deals with unrealistic Police response; what happens in this chapter would *never* happen in a real PD or active shooter situation. SPN isn’t mine. No beta, mistakes are all my own.

Sure Dean’s a cop and should be telling Charlie _not_ to be doing this kind of super-duper hacker-y illegal shit, but fuck it he’s sincerely curious (read: fucking terrified) what the PI has compiled on him and those around him and his fellow officers are being extremely tight lipped about it.

“I’m in,” she chirps, leaning back for a moment to smirk at the men surrounding her. Sammy is reclining in the easy chair while Cas lays out on the couch with his head pillowed on Dean’s lap.

“What’s he got?”

There’s a few tense minutes of clicking of the keyboard and mouse before Charlie makes an oddly surprised sound. “He’s digitized a lot of his research on you, Dean. Pictures, some background info like your birthplace, birth date, and where you went to high school. He’s got your public records.”

“Even the sealed ones?”

“No, those are still sealed. He is a PI Dean, not a spy. He’s got some stuff on your relationship with Cas. Seems like he started tailing you before you met Cas. A rough timeline. Info on your ex’s, old coworkers.”

“What else?”

She goes quiet for closer to half an hour as she digs before she draws their attention again. “Dean, you know Cain is the best PI in town…”

“Spill it.”

“Whoever came to him, he doesn’t have the actual clients name or description mind you, this client claims you’re a dirty cop and Bobby is covering you because of your and your family’s relationship with him. He’s got some photos in the folder of you working. He…” She pauses for a beat, nervously clearing her throat. “He also somehow has your records from your enlistment.”

Dean goes still, silent, unmovable as marble until Cas rests a hand to his jaw, nudging him back into action. “Does he have info on…”

“Alistair?” It’s kind of a glaring spot on his relatively spotless record, he’s not surprised that Charlie’s picked up on it so quickly. He was caught off-base with the man by one of his superiors he didn’t interact with often before DADT was repealed and shit hit the fan rapidly. He was a little surprised he wasn’t kicked out on his ass for some minor infraction they would blow up but he definitely was put on his ass in front of paper work for the rest of his stay in Germany.

Dean mutely nods, Cas looks curious yet dubious. He finally finds his voice again, “my first boyfriend. Was when I was stationed overseas in Germany for a short period. Love ‘em and leave ‘em type with a wicked sadistic streak. Really… Really liked knives.”

“And you think this will reflect badly on you, especially over a decade later?” Cas asks, shuffling to pull Dean in close and run his fingers through Dean’s hair.

“Maybe? BDSM and gay sex? That’s like two of the public’s two biggest taboos in one go. This PI has a ton of people he’s probably asked about me, and not all of them like me.” Dean leans back against the couch, fingers carding through the hair at the nape of Cas’ neck.  

“It will be fine.”

“Aaron is one of the people he asked, Dean,” Charlie says, looking up at the couple. “He knew you were in Lawrence after all.”

“That’s not suspicious at all,” he mutters, throwing an arm across his eyes. “Could just be coincidence?”

“Maybe,” Charlie murmurs before turning to hide her tracks.

…

The next morning finds Dean at the bar of his immaculate kitchen he’d spent the last three hours scrubbing clean for something to take his mind off the storm brewing. He could have woken Cas up, sure, but the man needed his sleep more than Dean deserved waking him up because he’s a little worried. Dean’s not really certain why Cas is sticking around and dealing with this shit fest. Sure, they’ve been dating for a little over half a year and they’ve dropped the “I love you” bomb already, but really? Why would someone like _Cas_ deal with _Dean’s_ baggage?

“Dean?” Castiel interrupts the train of thought and Dean jolts from where he’s been staring into his cup of coffee like it’s a scrying mirror, narrowly catching the mug before it can topple over. Cas looks worried, Dean thinks, and manages a wan smile.

“Hey, Cas.”

“Are you alright?” The other man pulls the bar stool nearest to Dean out and settles in with his own cup of coffee in the early September dawn, one hand gently squeezing Dean’s uniform clad knee.

“I’m fine, Cas.” Dean sighs, pulling his boyfriend in for a kiss. They trade lazy kisses for a few minutes and Dean is almost certain that Cas is going to let it go.

“No, you’re not.” His boyfriend, ever the perceptive one when it comes to Dean trying to distract him away from the issues. Castiel rests gentle kisses to Dean’s jaw, a kiss over the bruising bloom just hidden by his stiff collar, nuzzling against Dean’s ear. “Are you nervous about being back on duty?”

Even though the person (or people, Dean amends) has gone radio silent and seemingly dropped surveillance on him, he’s still on edge. He hasn’t seen anyone tailing him, but then again he didn’t notice before, and there hadn’t been anything new on the case. Dean’s hoping that whoever is up to this has decided that it’s not worth the hassle of dodging law enforcement actively searching for them.

And so, he’s back on duty with Benny after a short probationary period on strictly desk duty while the force followed their last lead. Nada. Zilch. Whoever it was covered their tracks really, really well and that worried Dean more that it would start up again later.

“A little,” he finally admits, pressing a searing kiss to Cas’ lips and stands from the bar stool he’d claimed. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cas murmurs against Dean’s lips and they finally break away when Benny gets fed up with waiting for Dean and pounds on the door.

“You get your pretty little ass out here Winchester! Oh, hey there Cas,” Benny is yelling as he storms into Dean’s entry way.

“That ass is mine,” Cas quips, smacking Dean on said ass as he walks by to get his car keys. Dean just rolls his eyes; what had begun as jealousy had turned into double team teasing Dean.

“Have a good day at work!” Dean shouts at Cas as the man passes through the threshold with a wave back towards them.

“You two are sickeningly domestic,” Benny drawls as Dean pulls his service weapon from the safe, tucking it into its holster and nodding towards the door.

“Oh stuff it,” Dean grouses, but it’s all in good nature. “Let’s get to work. What route are we on?”

“Bobby made an executive decision to put us by Cas’ place and to cover most of midtown.” They cross the dewy lawn to the cruiser.

It went unsaid that it was for Cas’ protection. But Dean knew Bobby, and the old man would do it if only because it would make Dean feel better. People could bitch and scream nepotism all day until they’re blue in the face, but it’s really that any officer that’s in the same situation, their immediate social circle would be under guard too. It’s not because Bobby is Uncle Bobby to him and Sammy.

“Alright. Any new leads?”

“You know I shouldn’t tell you anything about it, but, no. Totally off the grid and all the suspects check out.” Benny clicks on the radio and checks in that their squad is now available.

“This stinks, Benny,” Dean groans, reclining back into the seat of the cruiser. “There’s something there that we’re missing.”

“Or whoever it was just gave up.”

“Or is waiting for me to drop my guard.” Dean looks out at the passing neighborhood rapidly becoming the heart of midtown.

***

Castiel has been on edge ever since Dean called a few weeks back, alerting him to the very real threat of someone snooping with unknown motivations. He shoves a few pastry dishes a little too hard and lets out a sharp huff of breath. He was actually really hoping that this person would make another move and reveal themselves just so they know where everything stands.

At least that way they wouldn’t have to worry whether or not this game is still being played. He’s pretty sure it still is. He’s also certain that Dean is worried about it too.

“Cassie,” Gabe calls, voice lacking its usual humor, and Castiel pulls from the pastry case where he’s been spaced out while thinking. “Customers?”

His bright blue eyes raise and… There’s the last face he’d ever want to see. “Inias.”

“Castiel!” He sounds gleeful, so unlike Inias Castiel has to do a double take. “I heard you opened this little shop.”

“With my brother, Gabriel.” He’s aware Gabriel is peeking around the corner, waiting out the situation.

“I… See. Would you like to get dinner, catch up? See my new little flat?”

“No, I apologize. I have plans.”

“They can wait,” Inias damn near begs. “Please, Castiel? For old time’s sake?”

He’d been so engrossed in not sounding like an asshole but trying to get his message across that he’d missed the chimes of the door.

“Dean!” Gabriel shouts jovially, breaking Castiel from the glare he’s leveling Inias with, stepping out and walking over to the officers. “That’s Inias, you’d better get the story from Cassiopeia. I think he’s about to kick Inias out on his ass.”

Castiel can just hear Gabriel speaking and smirks at Inias’ darkening expression.

“Cas, is this man bothering you?” Dean asks from the doorway, walking up to the counter. Castiel doesn’t even have to take Dean’s order at this point, giving Benny a cursory glance to silently ask if it’s the same for the Cajun too. Benny just nods and Castiel turns to get their coffees.

“A little, Officer Winchester. Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Of course. You still coming back to my place tonight?” Dean damn well knows Castiel will be there, like he’s been since the investigation began. Inias blanches a nearly impossible shade paler than he was already he notes as he watches the man through his peripheral.

“Mmhm,” Cas just mumbles his reply, nodding with a shrug of his shoulders and turns to fully face the machine. The smell of fresh brewed coffee from the espresso machine permeates through the room as he steams the milk for Benny’s latte.

“Good, good.” Dean passes over the money and walks back to his partner, Inias all but seemingly forgotten. Castiel knows the men far too well for them to be doing anything more than feigning disinterest.

Inias stumbles over a feeble excuse and bolts, making Castiel chuckle under his breath. “I’ll give you the story later, Dean. Get your coffee.”

“Aye aye, sir yes sir!” Castiel chuckles as he turns to go back into the kitchen, listening to his boyfriend and Benny head back to work. Their radios crackle to life just before they exit, “Need all units in the vicinity of…”

They’re out the door in a flash and rushing back to the cruiser, lights and siren coming on as soon as they’re in the interior. He sighs and tilts his head skyward, praying to a god he’s long since stopped holding any faith in. “Don’t let him get hurt.”

***

It’s absolute chaos when they arrive on the scene in progress. A man has a woman held hostage, gun pointed to her, other arm wrapped around her sternum to keep her locked against him.

Cole is knelt behind his cruiser, Tessa beside him and her K9 Fox on his belly beside her. Dean and Benny rush to kneel beside them, staying out of the line of sight of the gun. “Has he made demands?”

“I don’t think this was his original intention, he’s kept to the standard ‘stay back’ and variations thereof,” he peeks over the hood and Dean yanks him back as a report of a gun echoes. “Well, add shooting at an officer to the list of things he’ll go down for.”

“We got SWAT enroute?”

“Yeah. ETA 15 minutes.”

“Bobby?”

“Over there,” Cole nods to a black sedan parked across the street, Bobby just out of the line of sight of the suspect on his phone.

“Have we tried talking him down yet?” Benny asks.

“No go. He just shoots off a warning shot and forces us back,” Tessa replies.

Another siren comes screaming into the courtyard of the mall, the police force unable to get any closer than the roundabout in front of the – hopefully now locked—entryway. Dean sees Uriel and Zach huddle down and hears the crackle of his radio as they radio in.

Dean pulls the radio control from Cole’s cruiser and flips the PA. “This is the police department, let the woman go.” It’s silent for a moment, lights from the cruisers sweeping over the scene, the sirens all flipped to off.

Another report and Dean slides lower, away from the suddenly shattered glass raining down on the passenger seat. A shard must’ve nicked him on the cheek because he feels a dribble of liquid down his cheek but just moves to avoid more shattering glass.  

“Don’t make this any worse for yourself,” he tries again. Same response. He turns the PA off and turns to Cole and Tessa. “How many shots has he fired?”

“Six. If he has a standard mag, he’ll only have between four and six shots left.”

Dean’s aware he’s about to do something incredibly dumb. He backs away from the cruiser and shakes his head at Benny, scrambling for their cruiser and hisses at a sharp, stinging pain in his thigh as another report echoes. He feels more than hears Benny’s huge frame basically tackle him to the asphalt behind the rear tire as the gunman lets off two more shots in quick succession.

At least the bullets aren’t armor piercing or they’d be in trouble. Well, more trouble. He’s sure Benny and Bobby are going to _abso-fucking-lutely rip him a new asshole_ for this stunt.

It’s working. Only one to three bullets left if he can’t reload. He takes a cautious peek around Benny’s bulk at Cole looking _really_ unimpressed and Tessa quietly fuming. He pushes Benny back a fraction, enough to peek over the rear of the trunk before ducking again before he can fire again.

He’s only vaguely aware that Benny has been putting pressure on his leg when he begins to feel a little woozy. Oh screw the others, _Cas_ will kill him for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking I'll have to eventually write that Cas jealousy of Benny scene for the first time stamp in this 'verse. 
> 
> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/).


	8. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean's in for it now. Castiel has a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're rapidly coming to the end of WtCMD; based on my outline we're looking at one more chapter and an epilogue. This is officially my longest posted fan fiction to date, thank you everyone that's followed thus far! I wish to give my gratitude especially to those that have shown encouragement and helped me get past the initial fear of posting a WIP work with your kind words. I have a story for the SPN AUBB that will be posting in January, but before that I have a few short SPN fics planned/in pre-writing. 
> 
> Still no beta, all mistakes are my own (like I've said before, I'll probably come back later and give this a better edit -- I will!). SPN isn't mine. Not a cop, please don't take any of this as how this would go down in real life.

Dean must have passed out at some point in the one-sided gun fight because he is jostled awake by the movement of the ambulance as it wails its way to the emergency room. Benny’s there, still keeping pressure on the wound to Dean’s thigh; he’s dimly aware that he should be glad it’s not too far up his thigh into the inappropriate bits. He snickers softly, wondering what Cas would think of that.

That draws him up cold. “Cas. The shooter,” He groans, trying to sit up and is forcefully shoved back onto the gurney by a paramedic with muscles that rivaled some WWE wrestlers’.

“I’ll call him and Sam as soon as you’re in the ER. The shooter was taken down by SWAT without deadly force. Brother, you got lucky. It missed your femoral...”

Everything goes dark again as the ambulance hits a pothole and the pain radiates in jagged spikes from the bullet wound.

…

He doesn’t awake again for what’s probably a few hours, he reasons, given that it’s dark outside when he glances out of the blinds. He carefully pushes himself up with a low groan of pain. There’s a mess of black hair and the man it’s attached to is curled up, head resting on the bed as he sleeps with slow, even breaths. Dean can’t help but smile, running his fingers through the impossible to tame locks of hair.

“Hello, Dean,” Cas’ voice is even deeper with sleep as he comes back into consciousness.

“Hey, Cas.” Castiel suddenly sits up, eyes wide as he looks at his boyfriend.

“You _moron_!" Castiel is sure to emphasize his words, "Benny told me you drew fire _intentionally_.” Suddenly a sleepy Cas is replaced by a _really_ unamused Cas. “That was incredibly dumb of you to do Dean.”

“It worked didn’t it?” He tries to crack a grin but shifts just the wrong way and groans low in his chest, a pained rumble. Cas is pinching the bridge of his nose, probably mentally counting backwards from ten.

“You…” He sighs, running his fingers over Dean’s good leg. “I guess I overlook that your job is so dangerous. I take your usual safety for granted, I guess.” Castiel finally admits. “You could have been shot in a far more vital location.”

“That’s the thing, Cas,” Dean starts, frowning. “The gunner wasn’t aiming for anything vital and, he had more than one chance to hit us but he used the woman as a human shield. He didn’t demand anything.”

Bobby knocks lightly on the threshold and holds up a piece of paper. “He didn’t make any demands because he was under orders from someone to be there and to grab the nearest hostage. It was a set up.”

“The target?” Dean has a sinking suspicion.

“Doesn’t say, but given the directions it sounds like they wanted someone on the force to shoot or get shot.”

“Dead or going down for something,” Dean monotones and Bobby nods.

“I need your statement,” Bobby orders, nodding to Cas before the man can stand up. “Stay son. This won’t take long.”

“Benny’n’I were in Cas’ café when the call came in. We turned on lights and sirens and hauled ass there. Cole and Tessa were already crouched behind their vehicle and the man had a hostage. We made it next to them. When Cole said the shooter had only used six shots and they all hit the cruiser, I thought it was strange that he’d fired warning shots in order to pin Tessa and Cole but hadn’t made any demands…” he glances at Cas. “I made a calculated decision to draw fire and see if we could empty his clip before he got trigger happy with his hostage. I underestimated the shooter and got shot by dodging between the two service vehicles, this was around the same time the other officers got to the scene. Passed out soon after that, I guess. The ending is a little fuzzy.”

"Dammit boy, you're not made of Kevlar." Bobby breathes a sigh that sounds vaguely like _idjit_ before looking up from the notepad to Dean. “Thank you. Dean, get some sleep.” Bobby closes the door behind him and Dean relaxes back into the hospital bed. He’s in for a thorough reaming later from Bobby, and probably Sammy too, but he currently has one seriously annoyed Castiel at his side that he’s more concerned about.

“A calculated decision? More like an unnecessary risk!” Cas looks sort of like a miffed off little kitten. Dean can’t contain the twitch of his lips or the repressed snort. That makes Cas glower even more. “This isn’t funny, Dean.”

“No, of course not,” his voice isn’t very steady with barely contained giggles at his increasingly aggravated boyfriend. He ruffles Cas’ hair and the incredibly disappointed squint turns to full-intensity glare. Dean has to quickly turn his thoughts away from the bedroom activities that glare could promise. “Cas, it’s just a bullet wound.”

“That could have been something… something vital!” And Dean sees the first glimmer of too-bright eyes filling.

“Oh Cas,” Dean whispers, pulling him up onto the bed beside him and wrapping his arms around the other man, tucking Cas’ head under his. “I promise I’ll be more cautious.”

The lean man in his arms is almost imperceptibly quivering. “I…” His voice is uncharacteristically high pitched until he clears his throat. “I knew, logically, that your job is dangerous. But it wasn’t until I got Benny’s call that it really sunk in. That could have been your…”

“Shh. No ifs or could’ve beens,” he soothes. “I’m okay, Cas. I’m okay and you’re okay.”

“Dean. You were shot. During a set up designed to kill an officer because you’re a bonehead. You ran to draw fire, how is that not stupid?” Cas’ voice is part cold steel and part choked by unshed tears, like he can’t decide whether to be – or equally feels – irritated or upset.

Dean sighs and releases Cas to really look at him. “My job is dangerous. Especially now. But I promise I’ll do my best to be careful.”

“Good,” another voice joins in, one Dean knows better than even his own. Sam takes a seat on the opposite side of Cas. “You’ve always played it fast and loose, Dean, would it kill you to maybe think before you act? When Benny called I had no idea what to think.”

“Guys. It’s just a –nonlethal—gunshot wound to the leg. I’ve been hit like this before.” That reassurance doesn’t seem to help. Cas and Sam’s ire is almost palpable. “I’m just saying I took a calcu—“

Cas cuts him off, “unnecessary risk,” at the same time Sam says, “point proven.”

“It drew his fire.”

“Was he actively shooting?” Sam asked.

“Yes.” That was the wrong thing to say, again. Cas’ glare turns icy.

“And you still left cover?” Both of the men ask at once.

“To draw his fire,” he repeats. Dean’s aware it was a dumb decision but now he’s doubling down on it. “It was a mall, Cas. Sammy. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt.”

“someone did,” Sam mutters, “you.”

“Someone innocent not on the force,” Dean clarifies, “or the hostage.” Cas just sits there, glowering. Sam’s looking upset himself. Dean can’t fight the flush that creeps down his neck. While he knows it’s his job to protect, he knows – he _absolutely_ _does_! – that he went further than he should’ve.

Dean has a feeling he’ll be doing a lot to make up for this kerfuffle (okay, so _maybe_ it’s a lot more than a little bump in the road) if he wants Cas to forgive his recklessness. He makes another attempt at placation. “Cas. You said it yourself, my job’s dangerous; but, I promise I’ll try and be more cautious in the future. There’s always going to be a risk. I’ll do my best to minimize it.”

Cas rests his head down on Dean’s collarbone and Dean pulls him in tight, resting a kiss to the mop of black hair.

“Sam?” Bobby calls as he sticks his head into the door, “can I talk to you alone?” Dean watches Sam stand, dodges an attempt to ruffle _his_ hair, and relaxes into Cas.

***

Sam leans against the opposite wall, arms crossed. “You seriously think Dean was the target?”

“Yeah, and you might be at risk too boy. You’d better have Jess stay over again or go stay at her place. We have an idea who is behind this and we’re working on a plan to take them down, but we need Dean up and on duty again to get ‘em.”

***

Dean’s stuck at the hospital for half a week before the doctors give him the all clear once they’re certain there’s not an immediate risk of infection. Given that Cas has yet to leave his side, he’s not surprised when it’s Cas that pulls the Impala up to the passenger pickup bay and helps him settle on the bench seat without too much movement of the injured leg.

Dean’s glad they remain silent on the drive home. He’s heard the same litany of “you’re a bonehead” from both his boyfriend and his brother day in and day out. He gets it. He made a mistake. He’s less likely to make said mistake again. He’d really appreciate it if Cas and Sam would just lay off of it.

It’s not until he’s comfortable on the couch in his home that he realizes Cas hasn’t said more than required to him.

“Cas?” Dean asks, leaning back to see the other man in the kitchen while Dr. Sexy plays quietly on the flat screen surrounded by movies.

“I’ll be there in a minute, Dean,” Cas says, easily the most he’s said at one time today.

“I get you’re pissed, and I’m sorry, I really am, but would you please talk to me?”

Cas doesn’t reply as he picks up two plates of something, setting a sandwich in front of Dean and a diet cola beside it. “I’m not pissed, Dean,” he says as he settles in beside Dean on the thick leather couch.

“Then what’s with the cold shoulder?” Dean frowns. “I mean, I’d understand if this is too much crazy for you but…”

Cas all but rolls his eyes, setting his food beside Dean’s and cups his cheek gently, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead. “Believe me, I’m not leaving you. You’re insufferable, a brat, reckless… But I love you. I’ve just had a lot on my mind today.”

Dean has heard those three words so many times since they started dating, but his heart still picks up and he grins. Instead of saying what he planned on being a simple reply he stutters out, “will you move in with me? You’ve been here more than your own place and there’s no Gabriel here to annoy you with bringing Kali over at ungodly hours and…”

“Shut up, Dean.” Castiel chuckles, kissing him soundly before pulling back to curl into Dean’s side. “I’m over most nights and a good portion of my clothes are here anyways. I guess I’ve already kind of moved in.”

They fall into a comfortable silence only broken by Dr. Sexy and the occasional kiss, curled together on the couch with a blanket eventually making its way over their laps.

***

“There better be nothing I’ll need brain bleach for going on!” Sam calls from the doorway, followed by a mischievous feminine giggle, and Dean rolls his eyes with a chuckle as he gently shakes Castiel awake.

“Sam’s home with dinner, Thai by the smell of it.” Probably Thai anyways, probably from their favorite little restaurant on the way home from the university. “Hey bitch, Jess with you?” He calls as the hulking moose wanders into the living room, tailed by none other than Jess.

“Yeah, is it alright if I stay here a while Dean?” She asks as she flops in front of the coffee table, reaching for her container of take out from, yup, their favorite place.

“You know you’re always welcome Jess.” Dean takes his and Cas’ from Sam and grins, wickedly, “when are you going to realize you’re so far out of Sammy’s league?”

“He’d crash and burn without me!” She giggles and Castiel just claps Dean’s leg, a silent gesture of _shut the hell up, Dean._ They settle in for dinner, laughter filling the living room as the TV plays on quietly in the background.


	9. Heigh Ho it's Off to Work We Go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Dean's recovered Bobby has some news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two for one today (since I'm a day off my planned posting day)! Here's chapters 9 and 10. 
> 
> No beta for this chapter (my friend beta read for plot holes, not grammar). All mistakes are my own, I did a basic edit but there's probably errors. Still don't know how actual cops would handle this, and SPN ain't mine.

Dean’s laid up for weeks while he heals. Sam’s apparently been turned into the messenger pigeon with what little of the investigation that can be shared by Bobby since he can only spare a few hours every week to check in with them with the current ongoing investigations he’s got mountains of paperwork for.

“Dean, are you sure you’re okay to return to work?” Castiel slips his arms around Dean’s waist, resting a soft kiss to his shoulder blade.

“Doc okayed it.” Dean grins, turning to pull Cas into an embrace, pressing their lips together. Cas pulls away with a chuckle and a weak smile.

“I’m glad you’re better, but…”

“You’re worried.” He knew he’d gotten that one on the head when Cas pulls his lower lip into his mouth and nibbles on it.

“A little,” he admits. “You promise you’ll be careful?”

“Of course,” Dean presses a kiss to the mess of black hair and tucks his gun into its waist holster. “Benny’ll be here soon.” Not even a solid minute later there’s Benny, lights and siren in the driveway. “He’s lucky I’m not going to give him a noise citation,” Dean sighs and kisses Cas as he rushes out the door, narrowly passing a sleepy Sam walking into the kitchen.

“Brother!” Benny laughs as he cuts the siren, coming around to pull Dean into a short, manly hug, clapping him on the shoulder as he pulls away.

“Benny! Man, am I glad to see you haven’t replaced me.”

“Of course not brother, I got paired up with Cole for a week before I requested a different temporary partner,” he chuckles, returning to the driver’s seat as Dean slides into the passenger side. “We’re heading to the station for roll call and a meeting with Bobby, then we’re supposed to be on the streets for patrol.”

“Bobby?”

“Yeah, Singer asked for us in specific. I guess it has to do with that investigation.” Benny shrugs as he watches for a chance to merge into traffic.

“That doesn’t scream nepotism?” The streets have turned into the city proper as they slow into a bumper-to-bumper backup. “One second, I’m going to ask what’s up with this traffic,” Dean cuts Benny off before he can reply, picking up the radio.

“Nah, you’re back on duty since they’ve concluded that you’re not a dirty cop or somethin’ like that,” Benny continues on and Dean just rolls his eyes as he radios in.

The radio crackles back to life as the dispatcher returns, “there is currently a five car pileup on I-70 near the tollbooth.”

“Thanks Jody,” Dean radios back and falls back into the seat, returning to their previous conversation. “I guess it’s good I’m back on duty then?” Dean asks, sliding down in the seat to work on paperwork for Benny.

“We’re going to take the street route to get to the station. I don’t want to be stuck in this mess. Call Bobby and tell him we’ll be late since you’re unable to leave the house on time.”

“I left as soon as you pulled up! It’s not my fault you were late,” Dean chuckles, pulling out his cell and dialing Bobby. “Hey Bobby! Yes. No, would you—Yessir. We’re going to be late, there’s a pileup on the interstate.” He pulls the phone from his ear with a wince, the tinny voice carrying. “Yeah, we’re going to be able to make it just… Yeah, Bobby, we’re gonna be a few minutes late. Don’t let them mark us up during roll. Thanks.”

Benny has gone quiet, one eyebrow arched as they creep forward to the nearest exit. “So?”

“Bobby had a few choice words about being more aware and leaving with enough time to spare. We’re exempt from roll today but he said we’d better have our asses in his office pronto.”

Benny chuckles and Dean returns to the paperwork.

It was, in fact, not a few minutes late when they finally make it into the station. Apparently quite a few other people had the same idea to get off the interstate and that caused congestion on most offshoot streets. And then they’d had to stop when they saw an accident happen, wait for backup to take over for them, and then hit every red on the way to the station.

“A few minutes late? Try an hour late!” Bobby is railing, has been for the last ten minutes, as the boys cower in a parade rest position. “Are you two incapable of being on time?”

“No, sir.”

“Sure seems like you are! And on your first day back, Winchester. You’re lucky that I took you both off of patrol today. You would have caused a mess of scheduling.”

“Sorry, sir. Why aren’t we on patrol today, sir?”

Bobby sighs, leaning into his desk and probably counting backwards from ten. Eventually he says, “we’ve had something of a breakthrough with your case Winchester. You’re not the dirty cop, there’s someone else setting you up and we think we know how to catch them in action.”

“If it’s another cop there’s no way we can catch them in a sting.”

“No shit, Sherlock. You didn’t think I’d think of that, are you an idiot boy?” Bobby levels him a particularly unamused glare.

“No sir, I didn’t mean to insinuate that,” Dean hedges, wanting nothing more than the ass reaming to end. This was almost worse than the ass reaming Bobby had given him after he’d gotten out of the hospital.

“We’ve brought in an undercover agent from another agency to pose as a PI. He’s been feeding us information. Someone came in for the cop that you’re going to recognize.”

Dean frowned. Someone working with the person setting him up he’d recognize? “Who is it, Bobby?”

“Not who I expected, boy. Aaron Bass.”

Dean’s heart drops. Sure, Aaron had been lying during Pride about not knowing that Dean was in town but that’s a far cry from trying to take him down.

“There’s another accomplice to… Well, to the accomplice,” Bobby continues and Dean’s frown grows more pronounced.

“Do I know them?”

“That’s what I was about to explain,” Bobby looks _really_ unimpressed now. “Boy, does Inias ring any bells in that air-filled head of yours?”

“Yeah, actually.” Dean has to make sure he doesn’t say what he really wants to about that particular comment. “That’s Cas’ ex. He said he was kind of an asshole. Ran into him a couple weeks ago.”

“Well, apparently Roche knows Bass somehow. One of them probably reached out to the other when they found out you and Cas are an item.” Bobby pulls out a folder and hands it over to Dean. “He was the one handling all of the interactions with Cain.”

There’s a few photos of Cain and Inias talking in what’s obviously Cain’s office. “These are from before we busted the idiot right?”

“Yeah, about the burglar. He was only after the information on your case. I guess Inias or Aaron or whoever they’re working for was getting antsy and Cain wasn’t working fast enough. He’s a known associate of Inias.” Bobby paused, watching them. Probably for a sign of recognition. When he didn’t see whatever he was looking for he continued, “he cracked with very little pressure and gave up Inias. That’s how we got his connection. With a few judged-signed warrants we got his records and found out about Aaron and then our undercover agent met with Aaron Bass. Sung like a canary when he thought the agent was an actual PI, gave up a ton of info except the person behind this. The cop he’s working with is a tough son ‘uva bitch to connect. Uses multiple burners to make calls, uses only cash, and makes sure he’s never in full view of a camera.”

“And what do you want us to do?” Dean’s really not certain how they fit into the plan.

“Well, first we need to go back over that list of enemies.”

Dean gapes. “I think I know who it is. Or at least who is most likely to be the cop behind it.”

Bobby smirks and nods. “Good. Give me a list.”

“If we’re limiting it to someone with access to the force, Trenton’s the highest on my list. Maybe Styne. Lydia Canning has had it out for me since we uh…”

“Had a one-night stand, I’m aware Dean.”

“Yeah… That. Talbot has always been kind of hot and cold with me too. Ruby’s really the only other one I’d peg for wanting to take me down, since I knew her before she joined the force and had a thing with Sammy. I don’t think I’ve ticked anyone else off.”

“So you’re pretty sure it’s Cole or Ruby?”

“My money’s on Trenton. He’s always had it out for me, even before he realized I’m bi and Ruby’s sort of let some of the shit go,” Dean shrugged.

Benny had been silent up until then but broke in, “I’ve heard some rumors Cole’s started. Usually about how he thinking you give Dean favors, sir. More recently he made an off color remark that you’re probably… well,” Benny looked pained to say this. “That you have a number of STIs because you’re whoring around. I decked him for that one. Sorry, sir.”

Bobby just shrugged, “kid had it coming. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear.”

“I don’t think Cole’s working on his own initiative though,” Dean cut in, folding his arms across his chest. “Have you read all of the stuff Cain dug up on my time overseas Bobby?”

“About Alistair?”

“Yeah. There’s things about him I didn’t tell you or Sammy. Especially not dad.”

“Do you think he’s behind this?”

“I’d bet he’s helping Cole, giving him information about me.” Dean shrugs and scuffs at the floor, eyes falling to the dirty ash colored carpet. “He and I had a relationship. Was my first boyfriend. Dude really liked knives and blood play. His brand of BDSM was more torture than consensual.”

Dean bit his lip, leaning back against the wall and sighed before looking at Bobby. “We didn’t end on a pleasant note. He was a real piece of work, enjoyed causing emotional and physical pain. Really fucked with my head.

“When my superiors found out about him, in a BDSM club of all places – like what happened with Aaron at the gay bar, but it was in a much more compromising situation – they put me on desk duty and sent me back stateside as soon as they could. I never talked to him after leaving him that night. He tried to talk me into leaving the corps and live with him, I told him to fuck himself and left with what little of my self-esteem I had left.”

Everything was silent for a pregnant moment. “Boy, I’m…”

“Don’t give me your pity. It’s over. Well, if I’m right he’s still trying to fuck with me, but that part of my history is over. I’m going to make a quick phone call.”

He left without waiting for permission, locking himself into the breakroom and pulled out his phone. He stared at the screen for a solid minute before he pulled up Cas’ profile, hitting CALL. It rang. Twice, three times.

“Dean?” Cas’ deep, rumbling voice was instantly soothing. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you on duty?”

“We’re pretty sure we know who is behind this.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, remember I told you about Alistair?”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t any give in Cas’ voice. Dean wasn’t sure if it was intentionally emotionless or not.

“He’s probably helping Cole.”

“Cole? The officer that was at Pride and outed you?”

“Yeah. The officer that outed me. He’s got some serious hate on for me, but I don’t think he’d go this far alone.” Dean closed his eyes, leaning against the door. “Please Cas, be extra careful. Alistair is an evil son ‘uva bitch and I don’t want him within a mile of you.”

“Don’t worry Dean, I’ll be careful. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He walked back to Bobby’s office and collapsed into the chair in front of his desk, suddenly very weary. “How do we end this?”

“Now we wait until they make a mistake. Then we get ‘um. You two get the honor of being on call in case we need you as bait.”

Dean rolled his eyes and pushed into a standing position and nodded to Benny. “We’ll just be doing paperwork then.”


	10. Closure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally over, Dean can breathe freely again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the final chapter/epilogue combo! Thanks for reading.
> 
> No beta for this chapter (my friend beta read for plot holes, not grammar). All mistakes are my own, I did a basic edit but there's probably errors. Still don't know how actual cops would handle this, and SPN ain't mine.

Dean is bored. Sure, he’s been bored at work before but now he’s just… stuck here with nothing to do. Benny’s finished his backlog of work and he’s been gone on medical leave for long enough that he hasn’t been able to accumulate work yet.

He stands and taps Benny on the shoulder. “I’m going for lunch. You in?”

“Naw, not yet. Thanks.”

“Alright. I’ll be back in thirty. I think I’m going to swing by Cas’ place to get something.”

“Or to get some…” Benny starts as Dean grabs the keys to the cruiser, Dean just flips him off as he walks out.

The drive over is quiet, the radio silent as he manages to hit most the lights green on his way to the artsy center of town, pulling into a metered parking spot across from the store front. He cuts the engine, dashes across the street, and enters the coffee shop to see it mostly empty. “Cas?”

“Dean,” Cas looks surprised to see him as he comes out of the kitchen. “What’s up?”

Dean smirks as he walks to the counter, leaning on it to press a soft kiss to Cas’ cheek. He pulls back when he hears a throat being cleared behind him. Turning to look at the person he’s momentarily stunned.

“Alastair. Cas, go get Gabe and call Bobby.”

“I’d heard you had another little toy to play with. You ever cut him up and bleed him like I taught you? You we’re always my favorite pupil,” the nasal voice still sent shivers down Dean’s spine. The man took another step towards Dean, forcing him to lean hard into the counter. “I knew I couldn’t trust Cole and the jealous ex boyfriends. I should have just gone with my first plan.” He chucked Dean under the chin, momentarily surprised when Dean flipped him around and into the counter, arms pinned behind his back.

“You grew some balls,” Alastair has the audacity to sound _surprised_.

“Go to Hell, Alastair,” Dean snarls softly, the _snick_ of the handcuffs loud in the suddenly quiet café. He glanced up to see Cas watching silently from the kitchen. “Cas, please go outside.”

The other man nods, hesitantly, then turns and leaves through the back. He can hear sirens coming from the direct of the station.

“You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.” He shoves against Alastair’s shoulders to keep him pinned when the man starts to struggle. “ _Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” Benny slams open the front door and Bobby comes in right behind him. Dean lifts Alastair and shoves him towards the door, “do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”_

_Benny takes Alastair from Dean, pushing him towards the door as Cole enters with Tessa. “Alastair told me who he’s working with, Bobby.”_

_“And who might that be?” Bobby turns to look at Cole. The officer looks back at them, unflappable._

_“Why would I know?”_

_“Alastair threw you under the bus, Cole. We know you’re working with him.”_

_“I’m not going to say anything.” Bobby’s already turned Cole around, clipping a pair of cuffs to Cole’s wrists._

_“Alastair’s going to narc on you and you know it,” Dean walks out with them, pulling Cas to him as soon as he sees his boyfriend and ignores the cat calls from his coworkers._

_“Is it over?” Cas asks into his shoulder, hands pressing warm against Dean’s mid-back._

_“It’s over. Let’s go home, can you leave Gabe in charge?”_

_“Yeah. Let’s go home.”_

_“Hey, Bobby, I’m taking the afternoon after I give you my statement!”_

_“Idjit,” Bobby calls back, but it’s not with any heat. “Take the week while we close this case.”_

_Dean’s pretty sure he’s being put on leave without Bobby actually saying the words, but he could care less. It’s over._

_***_

_July, a few months later._

“Charlie!” Cas growls from his and Dean’s room, digging through the closet for his outfit for Pride. “Did you take my shirt?” he asks as the vivacious redhead peeks into the room from the master bath, makeup half done.

“Nope. It’s in your bag, remember?” Cas spins on his heel towards the bed and looks through his bag. “You put it there last night.”

“I forgot. Thanks, Charlie.”

“No worries. We’d better hurry if we want to see Dean’s battalion in the parade,” she says as she heads back to the bathroom. Cas just chuckles as he pulls on a white tank with an image of a rainbow American flag Dean had bought him with a _hey Cas, look, United States of Gay!_

“Cas!” He walks into the bathroom and leans on the door frame, eyebrow raised as he watched Charlie struggle, leaning towards the huge mirror wrapping around the corner of the bathroom as she sat cross-legged on the sink white counter covered in her makeup.

“What do you need, Charlie?”

“Do my eyeliner for me?”

“You do it yourself every day.”

“Yeah, but you did Dean’s drag makeup last month and that liquid liner… it was so much better than anything _I_ could ever do!” She pouts.

Cas rolls his eyes as he walks up to her, taking the makeup from her.

***

Dean paces back and forth in the staging area, his pocket feeling unusually heavy. “Boy, would you stop that?” Dean looks up at Bobby but slowly comes to a stop, tapping his foot.

“What if he says no? What if he doesn’t want to be put on the spot like this?”

“Boy.” “Dude.” “Brotha’” the voices break in at the same time. He glances back over at Benny, Tessa, and Bobby. Benny sighs and walks over, laying a heavy hand on his shoulder. “He loves you, you love him. You said he was annoyed you had to work today, so I’m betting he wanted to spend the day with you. He’ll say yes. He’ll be mad you lied about working today though.”

Dean takes a deep breath, eyes slipping shut as he tips his head to the sun. He counts to ten to calm his nerves. It doesn’t work, his stomach is still rolling with angry butterflies. He lets out the breath and opens his eyes as he looks out at the crowd, catching a glance of Charlie’s red hair and smiles softly.

“Okay guys!” An organizer calls from the front of the parade. “We’re going to have our sponsors leave first, then following the bank will be the police. After the police we’re going to have each of the clubs and organizations by the number you were given.”

Dean falls into parade rest with his fellow officers behind their white and rainbow-adorned PRIDE squad cars. The whistle blows and the sponsors are off, music blaring from the DJ station.

His heart rate picks up as the police cars come to life and he hears “and here comes the Lawrence PD!” They step off in time, marching behind the cars and motorcycles with lights on. They come to a stop in front of Cas and Charlie, falling into parade rest. The crowd murmurs as the DJ comes over the loud speaker.

“We have a very special pride this year,” the DJ says as Dean takes a step forward.

“Castiel,” he begins and Cas’ look of confusion morphs into shock. “It’s been a hell of a ride so far and I couldn’t have imagined to have someone that stuck it out and stayed by my side through it all.” He went to a knee, pulling out a velvet box.

“Will you marry me Castiel Novak?”

Everything goes quiet as Castiel tries to make his voice work as he nods hard and yanks Dean up, pulling him in for a kiss. The crowd cheers and flies their flags as the DJ laughs, “I guess he he said yes! Congrats to the happy couple!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all the readers that have stuck it out to this point. A huge thank you to everyone that’s given me support, left kudos, and commented. I couldn’t’ve done this without knowing there are people out there that’ve enjoyed this fic enough to leave me feedback.
> 
> This is what I image the squad car to look like.
> 
> The final scene was based on  this video. 
> 
>  
> 
> Comments & kudos are adored! <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues

**Author's Note:**

> Comments & kudos are much appreciated <3
> 
> Come follow me on [my Tumblr](http://dezziebelle.tumblr.com/). I mostly reblog about Destiel and LGBT issues.


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